What to eat today? – Pay a visit to China with today’s special Cantonese menu

Chinese cuisine is always famous and well-known all over the world for its variety of dishes and richness in flavors. Some of the most amazing parts of this cuisine are dishes from Cantonese culture. How about a special Cantonese menu for today?

If you’re craving for tasty Chinese food after seeing photos or videos of them, log in to our “What to eat today?” section and check out the latest Cantonese recipes we’ve brought here!

Today’s Cantonese menu consists of:

• Chinese Watercress Soup with Pork Ribs 
• Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
• Sticky Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu)
• Dessert: Ching Bo Leung 

Let’s get started!

Chinese Watercress Soup with Pork Ribs – Special Cantonese Menu

Soup is an indispensable part of Chinese family meals. On today’s menu, bTaskee brings you the recipe of watercress soup with pork ribs. This is a popular classic dish of the Cantonese cuisine. In some way, it is similar to vegetable soup in Asian countries as well.  

Ingredients

Cooking steps 

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

• Pork rib: wash well with water, boil them slightly with some slices of ginger until they are cooked. Next, rewash them with water and chop into bite-sized pieces about 2-3cm. 
• Watercress: get rid of the spoiled leaves. Cut them into long strips about 3 – 5cm long. Then wash them with water and let them dry. 
• Carrot: peel and wash them with water. Cut them into halves about 2cm long
• Shallot: peel and wash with water, then chop them into thin slices.
• Ginger: peel and clean them with water. Crush or slice them into thin strips. 

Step 2: 

Heat a pot and add some cooking oil in. Once the oil is hot, add the sliced shallots in and stir-fry until golden then pour the ribs in. Cook them together and season to your liking (a pinch of salt and pepper)

Step 3: 

• Once the ribs are cooked and marinated well with the seasonings, add the carrots and stir-fry for about 1 – 2 minutes. 
• Add about 1 liter of water and ginger slices in the pot. Taste and season the broth again.
• Close the lit and simmer the ribs until the carrots are soft (usee a chopstick to test but don’t make the carrots mushy)

Step 4:

Add the watercress and stir well until they are cooked. Turn off the heat and pour the soup into a bowl to serve.

Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings – Special Cantonese Menu

Speaking of Cantonese cuisine, we all know that steamed dumpling, also known as “Har gow”, is a must! This is a delightful dish with a thin layer of wheat paper, thin but chewy and crunchy wrapping the meat and shrimp filling with the right amount of minced vegetables.

Dipping them into a thick sauce with some soy sauce, some shacha, and spices is a dream for foodaholics. What a perfect combination! Although making dumplings takes a lot of time and effort, with bTaskee’s special Cantonese menu, you don’t have to worry anymore!

Ingredients

Cooking steps 

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

• Pork: clean and minced well. However, you don’t have to mince the pork too smooth since people like to taste the texture of the meat when eating dumplings. 
• Shrimp: peel the shrimp shells and get rid of the heads. Then clean the black string and wash them well. Dice the shrimps into small pieces.
• Carrot: peel and wash them with water. Next, dice the carrots into pieces about 0.5cm long and thick.
• Mushroom: soak and wash well with water until they bloom. Next, cut off the root and slice the mushrooms into strips. 

Step 2: Mix the batter for the wrapper

• Mix the tapioca starch with the rice flour into a big bowl. Add a teaspoon of salt and sugar, 200gram of hot water then use your hands to mix the batter.
• Add 1 – 2 teaspoons of cooking oil to make the batter less sticky and easier to knead. 
• Let the batter rest for 10 – 15 minutes to increase the size and taste better. 
• Next, knead the dough well until it is soft and smooth. Divide the batter into small parts (about 10gram each) and roll them into thin round wrappers. 

Step 3: Make the filling

• Mix the minced meat and shrimps together with diced carrots, mushrooms, seasonings (salt, sugar, pepper), green onions, shallots, and 2 teaspoons of tapioca starch in a big bowl. 
• Use your hands to combine everything, mix constantly to blend the seasonings well.

Step 4: Make the dumplings

• Put a decent amount of filling (about ½ tablespoon into the middle of the wrapper.
• Use a little warm water to fold the wrapper and create patterns for the dumpling. Remember to fold the edges tightly so they won’t come open during the steaming process. 

Step 5: Make the sauce

Add 70ml of soy sauce, 30ml of vinegar dressing (or lemon juice), a teaspoon of sugar, chili sauce, and some fresh chili slices into a bowl. Mix them well together. 

Step 6: Steam the dumplings

• Apply a thin layer of oil on the steamer (or the parchment paper). 
• Next, place the dumplings inside the steamer. Use just enough water in order not to wet or mush the dumplings. Steam them for about 10 – 15 minutes until the wrap is clear.

Sticky Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu) – Special Cantonese Menu

Ingredients

Cooking steps 

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

• Wash the pork belly well, poach the meat slightly with boiling water. Then cut them into big parts about 5 – 7 cm long. Let them dry to get rid of the excess water. 
• Rinse the Wolfberry and the Chinese jujube in warm water for about 3 to 5 minutes and let them dry. 
• Take the seeds out and ground the persimmon well. 

Step 2: 

Marinate the meat with rock sugar, ground persimmon, goji berries, Chinese jujube some seasonings, and soy sauce for about 30 minutes to allow it to evenly absorb the seasoning.

Step 3:

Add the pork and the marinated sauce into a pot and steam for about 1 hour until the meat is tender. Use chopsticks to test if the meat is cooked completely.

These simple steps are all it takes to make a simple but flavorful sticky barbecue pork belly pot! This Cantonese dish can be used for days, the longer it is marinated, the better it tastes. 

Dessert: Ching Bo Leung – Special Cantonese Menu

Ching Bo Leung is a popular traditional Chinese sweet soup with Yi Mai (Chinese pearl barley), dried longans, red jujubes, lotus seeds, thinly sliced seaweed, with sugar water and crushed ice. Sometimes it could include thinly sliced strips of ginger and/or ginseng root, wolfberries, ginkgo nuts, and other creative toppings as well.

The main use of this sweet soup is to cool, sedate, and nourish the body thanks to the ingredients recognized as traditional medicinal herbs. Now, let’s learn this amazing recipe:

Ingredients

Cooking steps 

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

• Mung bean and dried longan: soak with boiling water for about 5 – 6 hours separately. 
• Job’s tears Seed (Bobo): soak in water for about 3 – 4 hours then take them out to dry. Next, boil them with a sufficient amount of water (about 2 – 3 cm above the seeds). Simmer until the seeds are soft. Pour them into cold water so they don’t stick to one another. 
• Red jujube: wash them well and rinse with water for 30 minutes. Let them dry naturally.
• White wood-ear mushroom: soak with water for 30 minutes and take them out, cut off the root, and slice into thin strips.
• Lotus seeds: wash and take the lotus plumule out of the seed. Boil them with 50 gram of sugar and just enough water until they soften and cracked open. 
• Thinly sliced seaweed: soak with water to let them bloat, then wash and dry them.
• Lotus root: wash and peel the bark. Slice them into thin slices then simmer them with about 300ml of water until they are cooked. Add 50 gram of rock sugar and simmer for 5 to 7 more minutes to sweeten the lotus root.

Step 2: 

• Pour 100 gram of sugar and 700ml of water in a pot. Boil until the sugar dissolves, add the lotus roots and cooked seeds in. 
• Bring the pot to a boil again and add the Mung beans in. Cook until they are soft and tender (about 15 minutes) 

Note: You should season the soup after every ingredient is cooked. Sugar might make it harder for them to become tender.

• Add Job’s tear seeds, white wood-ear mushroom, thinly sliced seaweed, and red jujubes in. Continue simmering the soup. When they are cooked completely (use a toothpick to check), taste and season the sweet soup again. Remember to add a pinch of salt to prevent it from being too sweet.

Step 3:  

Add the dried longan in last because they are already soft. Stir them lightly and taste the soup again. Make adjustments and turn off the heat when it’s ready. Place a bit of each ingredient in a bowl, add ice and pour the sweet soup on top. You can now enjoy a fresh and cool dessert to wrap up today’s special Cantonese menu.

Cantonese dishes are really eye-catching, aren’t they?

They have all kinds of flavors, scents, and also various healthy herbs. That is probably why Cantonese cuisine is famous and loved all over the world. Although Cantonese cuisine requires many steps and dozens of ingredients, the final product is too appealing to miss. 

Put on your apron and try this special Cantonese menu right now with bTaskee! No matter how complicated the ingredients and the recipes are, bTaskee’s grocery shopping service will help you get them. 

Through our Grocery Assistant Service, bTaskers will go shopping for food and groceries at a reasonable cost based on your request. We will also be delivering them to your home in less than an hour.

We also provide a brand-new useful menu every day on our “What to eat today?” section to help you create an effective and healthy meal plan. 

Book our service right now on the bTaskee application or visit our website at https://www.btaskee.com/en/grocery-assistant/ for more information.